Dancing bears,
Painted wings,
Things I almost remember,
And a song,
Someone sings,
Once upon a December.
In her trance, Lina walked through the old castle, singing to herself.
Someone holds me,
Safe and warm,
Horses prance through a silver storm
Figures dancing gracefully,
Across my memory.
Lina spun around, dancing, and suddenly the abandoned ballroom was filled with the transparent figures of dancing ghosts as the music swelled around them.
Far away,
Long ago,
Glowing dim as an ember,
Things my heart
Used to know,
Once upon a December.
Lina curstied to a ghostly young man in a uniform and swung into the dance with him. She could feel the music swelling as she continued to turn and whirl in the arms of her many ghostly partners.
Someone holds me,
Safe and warm,
Horses prance through a silver storm,
Figures dancing gracefully,
Across my memory.
Lina whirled around, her bloodred skirts flaring, in the arms of her ghostly partners.
Far away,
Long ago,
Glowing dim as an ember,
Things my heart
Used to know,
Things it yearns to remember...
Lina stopped dancing and turned to face the ghostly procession.
And a song,
Someone sings.....
Lina received a kiss in the forehead from the crowned man before her.
Once upon a December.
Lina knelt down in a low curtsy, her hands trailing on the floor, her head bowed.
"Lina?" Gourry's voice was hesitant.
Lina snapped out of her trance and looked up.
Gourry, Zelgadis, Amelia, Filia and Xellos had watched Lina as she danced and sang,seeing the ghostly figues she had danced with.
"Are you all right Lina?" Gourry asked hesitantly.
Lina nodded and got to her feet.
"What happened to your clothes Miss Lina?" Amelia asked, wide-eyed.
Lina looked down to see the outfit she normally wore was gone and in it's place was a bloodred ballgown. The Demon's Blood talismens formed a belt around her tiny waist.
"I don't know. But I have a feeling that I knew those people,"Lina whispered, touching her forehead where the crowned man had kissed it.
"Well, your hair looks nice," Filia said.
"My hair?" Lina asked, reaching up to touch the fiery curls piled atop her head, feeling some trailing down her back and over her shoulders. "What is going on here?" she asked in a whisper, scared.
Gourry wrapped an arm around Lina's shoulders. He led her back to the group, feeling the way her slender body trembled beneath his touch.
"I'll protect you," he whispered, so softly only she could hear it.
"Hey!What are you doing here!?" a very angry male voice shouted.
Lina gathered up her skirts and ran, her friends trailing after her.
"Hey! Stop!" the voice yelled.
At the sound of footsteps catching up behind her, Lina ran faster. She stopped when she reached a dead end.
"Thank... you...for...stopping," the voice wheezed.
Lina turned around slowly.
"What are you...." the voice suddenly stopped speaking.
Lina raised her eyes to meet a pair of startled brown ones.
"What was all the noise about Ravinder?" a fat man huffed as he trotted over.
"Do you see what I see Vlad?" the man now identified as Ravinder asked, throwing an arm across the fat man's shoulders.
"Well I...Yes! Yes I do! But how can this be? A resemblance so strong?" Vlad asked incrediously.
"What is it?" Amelia asked, peering around Vlad. "Oh my!"
"Tell me what's so shocking!" Lina demanded, stamping her foot.
"Just like when Alexandria used to get angry," Vlad said to Ravinder.
Gourry pushed his way past the two men to try and get to Lina when he stopped, staring.
"What is it?" Lina asked Gourry apprehensively.
Gourry pointed to a spot above Lina's head.
Lina turned around and gasped.
"She looks just like me! Except older,"she whispered. "Who are these people?" she demanded.
"That is King Nicholas and his wife, the queen, Alexandria. There is a portrait of them and their nine children down the hallway. Would you like to see it?" Ravinder asked.
Lina nodded slowly, her eyes still fixed upon the massive portrait.
"This way then,"Ravinder said, gesturing for everyone to follow him.
Lina picked up her skirts and followed Ravinder down a dark hallway, casting a Lighting spell as she did so.
"Here we are," Ravinder said, stopping suddenly.
Lina stopped before she could bump into Ravinder, her eyes fixed on the massive portrait. She pumped more magic into the Lighting spell, breaking it into little balls of light that flew to unlit candles high upon the wall, lighting them.
Ravinder looked down at Lina with approval in his eyes.
"That was a very wise thing to do," he murmured, stepping closer to Lina.
Gourry inserted himself between Lina and Ravinder, unconsciously saying 'She's mine. Back off' with this action.
"What are the names of all the children?" he asked, his posture stiff as he looked down at Ravinder.
"Vladmir will tell you. I don't know them all. I only know the one name. The name of the youngest daughter. Celina," Ravinder breathed the name reverently.
"You seem to be enamored of this Celina,"Xellos said as he walked forward to inspect the painting closely.
Lina didn't hear or notice anything going on around her. She was concentrating on the protrait in front of her.
"Only two of the children look like the woman in the portrait," she said softly to Vlad.
"Yes. The youngest daughter, the Princess Celina, and the oldest son, the Prince Leon. The rest take after their father," Vlad said.
"What happened to them?" Lina asked in a whisper.
" A curse was placed upon them. It's called the Curse of the Inverse family.It's an eternal sleep curse,"Vlad said.
"Inverse? But isn't that your last name Lina?" Zelgadis asked.
Ravinder and Vladmir both looked at Lina with open mouthes and wide eyes.
Lina just nodded absentmindedly. Her hand reached out and touched the portrait.
"Why do you seem so familiar?" she asked the still figures in the portrait. "Where are they?" she asked Vlad.
"Up in their respective rooms.They sleep, surrounded by a magic barrier, not aging because of the curse,"Vladmir replied.
"Can I see them?" Lina asked softly.
Vladmir nodded and led the way upstairs. He paused in front of a golden barrier of magic.
"We can't get past here," he said.
Lina paid no attention to Vladmir and stepped through the barrier.
"Lina!" Gourry cried and ran after her.
He passed through the barrier easily.
"But how?" Vlad gasped.
Amelia,Zelgadis, Xellos and Filia tried to pass through the barrier but they couldn't.
Ravinder just watched with a strange expression on his face.
.
(ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BARRIER)
"Lina! Don't do that ever again," Gourry said, a wild look in his eyes.
"I'm sorry Gourry.But I just had to go through it.I have to see why I was drawn here," Lina said ernestly, her red-gold eyes pleadind with Gourry to understand.
"I believe you.Just,next time, take me with you," Gourry said, placing a hand on Lina's bare shoulder.
"I'll do that,"Lina said smiling.
She turned her head and looked at te closed door with the name 'Celina' engraved in the wood. She walked over to the door and opened it.
"It's empty!"she gasped.
She turned to Gourry.
"I want to check the other rooms!"
She ran down the hall and opened another door. Then another and another until all the doors were opened.
"I don't get it. All the rooms but Celina's have someone sleeping in them.But why not hers?" Lina asked aloud,yawning.
"Because she escaped?"Gourry suggested.
"I think you're right. Why else would the room be empty?" LIna said, yawning again. "But where is she now?"
"I dunno. Enjoying the good life?"Gourry suggested lamely.
"No Gourry. I don't think so,"Lina said slowly. "I need a nap," she said, yawning again.
She walked into Celina's empty bedroom and lay down on the bed.
Gourry watched in horror as Lina fell asleep, a golden glow surrounding her.He ran to the bed and tried to shake Lina awake, but it didn't work.
"Lina!Wake up!" he yelled desperately, tears in his eyes.
Then he suddenly remembered a fairy tale his grandmother had told him when he was just a little boy.
'The princess fell under an enchanted sleep and the only way the handsome prince could wake her was to kiss her,"he thought, going over the fairy tale in his mind. 'I'm no handsome prince, well actually, I AM a price, and Lina's no princess, but I have to try SOMETHING. Here goes nothing.'
He bent down and covered Lina's lips with his warm ones, his eyes closed.
Lina's eyes fluttered open, a confused look in them when she realized that Gourry was kissing her. Then she closed her eyes and returned Gourry's kiss.
Gourry broke the kiss reluctantly. He smiled down at Lina uneasily, wondering whether she'd hit him or not.
"What happened?" was all Lina said.
"You fell under the enchantment. I broke it's hold over you," Gourry replied.
Lina sat up with Gourry's assistance.
"Thank you. And I'm not going to hit you so you can stop cowering,"Lina said.
She climbed off the bed and wandered out into the hallway. She came face to face with the people from the portraits. She hurriedly hid behind Gourry.
"I think I'm seeing things,"she told him.
"You aren't the only one,"Gourry said.
Zelgadis,Amelia,Xellos,Filia, Ravinder and Vladmir all ran forward when the golden barrier disappeared.They all stopped when they saw the people from the portraits up and walking around.
"What has happened to us?" the older woman who looked like Lina asked.
"We have been freed from the curse,"King Nicholas replied.
He looked fondly at his wife and eight children.His eyes widened.
"What has happened to Celina?Where is she?" he demanded of the Slayers gang, Ravinder and Vladmir.
He hadn't seen Lina, who was still hiding behind Gourry.
"We don't know,"Zelgadis said.
"She's here.She's hiding behind the blonde man over there,"Ravinder said, gesturing to Gourry.
King Nicholas strode over to Gourry and pulled Lina from behind the blonde swordsman before either of them had time to react.
"Let me go!" Lina demanded, struggling to break free from King Nicholas' grip on her arm.
King Nicholas looked down at the young woman he held in his grip.His fingers went numb and his grip loosened enough for Lina to pull free and his jaw had dropped.
"You....You can't be my daughter.You're too old. But you look like my beloved Alexandria," Nicholas stammered.
"Let the girl be Nicholas,"Queen Alexandria said sweetly, stepping forward to place a restraining hand on her husband's arm. "I am Queen Alexandria Inverse and what are your names?"
"I'm Gourry Gabriev and this is Lina Inverse," Gourry said as he pulled Lina into his arms and out of Nicholas' reach.
"Is your name really Lina Inverse?" a small boy, about ten years old, asked.
"That's the name I've been called for the last fourteen years,"Lina said curtly. "But that is not my real name." She stepped away from Gourry. "My full name is Celina Pearl Sari Skye Inverse. I am horored to meet you,"Lina said, her velvet skirts sweeping the floor as she gave a low cursty.
Gourry,Zelgadis,Ameria, Filia,Xellos,Vladmir and Ravinder all gaped at the list of names Lina recited.
Queen Alexandria gave a glad cry and embraced Lina. "Daughter! I am so gald you're safe.Even if you are older than most of your older siblings," the queen exclaimed, sobbing her happiness.
"Uh.......It's nice to see you again too, but could you please stop crying on me?" Lina asked, gingerly patting her newfound mother on the head.
"I'm glad to be reunited with you again Celina, but I'm curious as to how the curse was broken," King Nicholas said as he pulled his crying wife away from Lina.
"That's easy to explain.Lina fell under the curse too so I kissed her and the curse got broken," Gourry said, looking down at Lina.
"What's your name again?" Nicholas asked.
"It's Gourry Gabriev," Gourry replied.
"Gabriev.I've heard that name before," Nicholas muttered.
"Celina is betrothed to the oldest son of the Royal Gabrievs. Don't you remember?" Alexandria asked her husband, finally through with her crying fit.
"I've just woken up after a fourteen year long nap.I can't remember everything right away," Nicholas snapped irritably.
"Pray excuse him. He's never been a morning person," one of Lina's older brothers said.
"Neither is Lina unless there's food waiting,"Gourry said. he bent over double when Lina punched him in the stomach.
The Royal Inverse family looked at their youngest daughter with wide eyes as she dusted her hands off.
"Next time Gourry, leave my sleeping habits out of the conversation,"Lina snapped. A bloodred aura flared up around her.
"What have you been doing all these years that your magical aura is so strong?"Nicholas asked.
"Traveling,"was all Lina would say.
Ravinder sidled up to Lina and whispered something in her ear.
Lina drop-kicked Ravinder into the nearest wall. "Don't ever suggest something like that again! As if I'd ever marry you!"Lina cried angrily.Her magical aura flarede even brighter and the Demon's Blood talismens began to glow.
Gourry pulled Lina into his arms and kissed her, hoping to stop her from Dragon Slaving the palace.
The Slayers gang expected Lina to explode at this unasked for contact and were surprised when Lina just melted against Gourry.
The Royal Inverse's were also shocked,but only at the gall this unknown man had at kissing a royal princess.
Lina's aura flashed and enveloped both her and Gourry.When it faded, Gourry stood in a pure white outfit and Lina was dressed as a bride. They were still kissing.
"And you look like a groom," Lina said, smiling.
Gourry looked down at himself and yelped. "You're right! But why are we dressed like this?" he asked the Royal Inverses.
"You are the oldest son of the Royal Gabrievs, are you not?"Alexandria asked.
"Yeah. Why?"Gourry asked.
"You and my daughter are betrothed. That's why you are dressed like you are," Nicholas said.
"Oh. So Lina and I are getting married?" Gourry asked.
"You already are,"Xellos said, pointing to the rings on Lina and Gourry's left hands.
Lina's smile grew wider. She flung her arms around Gourry's neck in a joyful hug. "I love you," she whispered.
"I love you too," Gourry countered, kissing his bride.
"And they lived happily ever after and had a lot of little princes and princesses," Xellos said to his children, closing the thick storybook.
Filia walked over to her husband. "You love that story more than the kids do," she teased, kissing Xellos on his nose. She picked up the blonde haired, violet eyed twin girls. "Time for bed," she told the other two children.
"Do we have to?" the children asked their father.
"Do as your mother says," Xellos said, scooping up his remaining son and daugter.
After putting their children to bed, Xellos and Filia went back downstairs.
"Do you think they're still alive?"Xellos asked his wife of many years, his hand on a framed portrait of Lina and Gourry in their royal finery.
"You know they are. L-sama said they'd live forever without aging. Come, it's time for us to go to bed too," Filia said and blew out the lamp.
THE END
